Meet the Teenagers Leading a Climate Change Movement

Kids today. While some teens spend their time following self-proclaimed stars on social media, these teens are using social media to organize, mobilize and take action.

“The march is a launch,” Jamie Margolin, the founder of Zero Hour, said of Saturday’s demonstration in Washington. “It isn’t, ‘That’s it, we’re done.’” WASHINGTON — Some of them met on Instagram. Others coordinated during lunchtime phone conferences. Most of them haven’t even graduated from high school. The teenagers behind Zero Hour — an environmentally focused, creatively minded and technologically savvy nationwide coalition — are trying to build a youth-led movement to sound the alarm and call for action on climate change and environmental justice. For the last year, a tight-knit group spanning both coasts has been organizing on social media. The teenagers kicked off their campaign with a protest on Saturday at the National Mall in Washington, along with sister marches across the country. As sea levels rise, ice caps melt and erratic weather affects communities across the globe, they say time is running out to address climate change. The core organizing group of about 20 met with almost 40 federal lawmakers about their platforms on Thursday, and hope to inspire other teenagers to step up and demand change. “The march is a launch. It isn’t, ‘That’s it, we’re done,’” said Jamie Margolin, the founder of Zero Hour. […]

Grant Brown is a passionate environmentalist, driven by a need to “leave it better than he found it”. This drive, combined with a capacity to understand power solutions of all types, helps him in his day job as VP Marketing at a start up clean technology company. His goal personally as well as professionally, is to help and inspire others to become a part of the green shift and to leave a positive legacy in the world.